Under Stress
by Topazicatzbeth
Summary: The stress of current events in Danny's life are starting to take its toll. Mild whump. Season 6 spoilers.


**Note: So** **this is just a little one shot with some mild whump. Thanks to wenwalk for the quick beta. I'm working in the next one but it will take some time.**

 **Warning: spoiler for end of season 5/season 6.**

 **Disclaimer: no copy right infringement intended. Just having some fun.**

 **Under Stress**

Danny squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was loathed to admit to himself that the headache he had been sporting all day, and was steadily getting worse, was actually a migraine. He had only suffered a handful of migraines in his lifetime, and only when he was at his most stressed. The first one had been during a particularly nasty homicide which involved the death of a young boy. He had suffered several more during his divorce from Rachel, but thankfully once he had made the decision to follow them to Hawaii, so he could be near Grace, he hadn't had any more. It was a wonder, given his stressful job, and having a partner with a death wish.

The length of time since his last one was the reason he had been in denial, for the majority of the day, as the pain increased and the nausea started to settle deep in his stomach. It wasn't surprising though really, he had only recently found out that Rachel had lied to him about Charlie's parentage. And not only was he trying to build a relationship with his son, but on top of that he was worried sick about the outcome of the bone marrow transplant, fearful that he might lose his young son before he could get to know him properly.

The harvesting had gone to plan a few days previously, the medical team had decided that the best course of action was for them to harvest stem cells in a procedure called peripheral blood stem cell donation. It required him to be injected once a day for four days so his body produced more blood-forming cells. Danny hadn't fancied injecting himself but Steve had stepped up to the plate and served his buddy a solid by injecting him each day. Once that was done he had spent several hours connected to an apheresis machine where blood was removed from one arm, circulated through the machine and was then returned via the other arm. The doctors had successfully collected enough of the precious life saving cells and they were able to give them to Charlie.

So far the transplant was going well. Charlie had shown no sign of rejection, or Graft versus host disease, and they were now patiently, or not so patiently in Danny's case, waiting for signs of it taking, and Charlie's immune system starting to recover. He had spent the previous night at the hospital with his son, allowing Rachel a night at home in her own bed. Unfortunately, he hadn't got much sleep as Charlie had been upset as his mouth was sore, a side affect of the drugs he had been given to kill off his own bone marrow. So he had spent most of the night with the young boy curled up in his lap either crying, or sucking on ice pops to relieve the pain. He wished like hell he could trade places with his son and take away his pain.

Rachel had retuned in the morning and Danny had gone straight to work, showering and changing in the Palaces' bathroom. Fortunately they hadn't picked up a case, so he'd spent the day working on paperwork. However, as the pain in his head got worse, his sight became blurred, and he could see lights dancing in the peripheries of his vision.

He finally succumbed to the pain and admitted defeat. He had a migraine, and an epic one at that. Resting his head in his hands he didn't even hear his partner enter the room, and startled when he spoke.

"Come on, I'm taking you home."

"What? No, I'm fine." Danny forced his eyes open to look at his friend, and was amused by the lights swirling around Steve's head. They looked just like the cartoons did when a character hit its head. _At least it's not birds_ he thought to himself.

"Danny, I've been watching you all day. You're tired, and I know you aren't feeling well. Headache, right?"

"Sort of." Danny admitted.

"What does sort of mean?" Steve was frustrated, he knew Danny was suffering and just wanted to help his friend.

"Can we use inside voices please." Danny winced at Steve's harsh tone. "Yes, I have a headache, but I'm pretty sure it's a migraine, although I haven't had one for years."

"Shit, Danny. Why didn't you say? Come on, you're done for the day." Steve guided his friend up out of the chair and towards the door. The sudden change of position made Danny's head spin, and his stomach lurch, and he rushed to grab his trash can just in time to empty the contents of his stomach into it.

Steve called out to the others, and soon Chin arrived with a bottle of water, which Danny gratefully accepted and used to swill his mouth out. Steve explained that they were done for the day and he was taking Danny home for some much needed rest.

"Here man, these will help." Lou passed Danny a pair of sunglasses wanting to protect his friend's sensitive eyes from the sun, and Danny mumbled a thanks. Chin assured Steve that he and Lou would take care of everything at the office before heading home, so Steve continued to guide his partner out of the office.

As they exited the Palace Danny realised he loved Lou Grover. The bright sun sent a piercing pain right through his brain, and he clamped his eyes shut and tried his best not to vomit again. If he hadn't have been wearing the sunglasses it would have been so much worse. Steve sensed his pain and took hold of Danny's arm at the elbow.

"Just keep your eyes closed. I'll guide you to the car."

Danny trusted Steve to safely manoeuvre him over to the car and into the passenger seat. As the car started he rested his head back and concentrated on his breathing so he wasn't sick again.

The car ground to a halt and the engine extinguished. Danny knew without opening his eyes that they weren't at his house. The drive had been too short. Steve opened the door and started to help Danny out.

"This isn't home, Steven."

"It's, a, home." Steve continued to guide his friend towards the house. "I'm not leaving you alone at your house, this way I can keep an eye on you."

"You know I can't sleep here." Danny grumbled.

"I'm gonna put you in the front bedroom, it's smaller but further away from the sea. Do you have Grace tonight? Do I need to pick her up?"

"Rachel has her tonight. Stan is staying with Charlie." Danny answered.

Reaching the top of the stairs Steve was about to guide Danny into the small bedroom, when he suddenly lurched to the side and made a bee line for the bathroom. Steve sighed as he heard his friend retching once more. He slipped into the room and pulled the covers back on the bed. Then he moved to the window and shut it before closing the blind to shut out most of the light. The room was now in darkness, which would be much better for Danny.

"Steve," Danny called alarmed and the SEAL bolted to the door. "I can't see anything now."

"Is that normal for you?" Steve was concerned. He knew people could suffer differently from migraines.

"Yeah, I just need to sleep it off." Danny held out his arm, waiting for Steve to guide him into the bedroom. Steve carefully took hold of his friend, and with his other hand on the small of his back he guided him into the bedroom.

Danny flopped down on the bed and Steve retreated to the bathroom and grabbed some Tylenol from the bathroom cabinet. When he returned to the room his partner hadn't moved, so he bent down and slipped his friends shoes off before easing his feet up onto the bed so he was laid down properly. Wanting to make his friend as comfortable as possible he then started to undo Danny's belt.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" Danny's sightless eyes were slits, but he was peering at his dark haired friend.

"I'm taking your pants off. Take the shirt off too. I'll lend you a tee. You'll be much more comfortable that way." Steve undid the button on Danny's slacks, only for his hand to be batted away.

"Get off."

"Danny it's no big deal." Steve sighed then a thought dawned on him, and he smiled. "Not going commando today are you Danno?"

"What? No. You're the Neanderthal Commando." Danny started to remove his pants, knowing he wouldn't win the battle with Steve, plus he was right, he would be much more comfortable.

"Commander, Danny, doesn't mean I go commando, well, unless it's wash day." Steve joked.

Danny started to undo the buttons on his shirt while Steve grabbed a t-shirt from his room. It was a royal blue one with a surfer's silhouette on it. He couldn't help but tease the mainlander. Danny had managed to undress by the time he returned, so he helped him on with the t-shirt then passed him the Tylenol in the hopes it might at least ease some of his friend's pain.

Danny swallowed the tablets then lay down. Steve threw the covers over his friend then position the trash can by the bed in case he needed to use it. The blonde detective still looked rather green around the gills. Telling Danny to sleep and feel better, he retreated to the door.

"Steve, can you ring Rachel and see how Charlie is doing please? I'll sleep better if I know he is settled."

"Sure thing, Buddy," Steve pulled out his phone and stepped into the hallway to make the call so to keep the noise down to a minimum.

Reassured that Charlie was ok and happily doing the jigsaw puzzle he had bought him, Danny finally settled down to attempt to sleep.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Steve took an ice pack out of the freezer and headed up the stairs to the small bedroom where his best friend had spent the night. Slipping into the room he carefully replaced the now warm pack with a fresh one, and heard Danny groan with pleasure as the new pack help to ease his headache a little.

It had been a rough night for his partner. Steve had heard Danny vomiting several times, and at 2am he had grabbed the first ice pack in an attempt to help ease his friend's pain. As the night continued Steve became more concerned. Danny seemed trapped in a half sleep. Not really resting, not really awake. Several times he heard the blonde detective whimper with the pain.

Danny looked pale, except for the dark circles around his sunken eyes. Pain lines making him look older than he was. Steve reached forward and took hold of Danny's wrist, his fingers settling on the pulse point. A strong, but rapid beat strummed under his grip.

"Danny, do you think you could manage a drink?" Steve was concerned that Danny was dehydrated.

Danny's free hand pointed down to the sick bucket by his bed. He had stopped speaking several hours ago, the vibrations of his own voice rattled his brain, and making his head feel like it was going to explode.

Deciding he had had enough Steve stood and left the bedroom, only partly closing the door behind him. Reaching in to his pocket he pulled out his phone and searched his address book for an important number.

An hour later a relieved Steve opened to door to Dr. Pearce.

"Thanks for coming doc, I know it's just a migraine but it seems really bad."

"Its fine, Steve, I'm happy to check him out, and please, I told you to call me Andrea."

"Sorry, I'll try." Steve smiled. Truth be told, he preferred to call her by her title as a sign of respect.

"Try harder, it's my day off. Now where is the patient?"

Steve showed her upstairs, noting that she carried a large bag over her shoulder, which he guessed contained medical supplies.

Once inside Danny's room he moved to the blinds, opening them slightly to allow her some light to see. She repeated Steve's earlier move and carefully checked Danny's pulse.

Danny had heard talking downstairs and then felt the door open, but he refused to open his eyes, there was no point anyway as all he saw was swirls of light with his eyes open, or closed. He didn't need his sight to know who had accompanied Steve into the room. The floral scent of hibiscus, and passion fruit, hit his nose. While the familiar scent normal made him feel safe, knowing his friend Dr. Andrea Pearce was nearby, this time it only made his stomach roll.

"Danny, Steve filled me in on the fact that you have a migraine, but he's concerned by its intensity and duration. I'd like to give you a quick exam if that's ok?"

Danny gave her the thumbs up, and she set about taking his blood pressure and temperature. Pinching the skin on the back of his hand she frowned as it didn't immediately spring back into place, and instead remained tented for a second before flattening off.

"He's definitely dehydrated, and his blood pressure is up, which won't be helping. I don't have his medical records with me but I practically know them off by heart, with the number of admissions he's had, but I do remember a brief history of migraines. He hasn't hit his head recently has he?"

"No." Steve answered.

"What are these marks on his arms?" Dr. Pearce pointed out the small mark on each arm where the needle had been for the stem cell harvesting.

"They're from the stem cell thing." Danny was happy just to lay there and let Steve fill his friend in on the recent changes to his life.

"Stem cells?" Dr. Pearce questioned.

"He donated stem cells a few days ago to his son. He's been pretty stressed about it all, which is probably the cause of the migraine."

"Son?" Dr. Pearce exclaimed, and Danny winced as her voice rose above a whisper.

"Yeah, long story Doc… Andrea. Basically Danny now has a three year old son who is sick and needed a bone marrow transplant."

"Oh my. Has he been resting since he donated?" Dr. Pearce was pretty sure she already knew the answer to that one.

"Err...we caught a case over the weekend, but he said he felt fine, then he spent most of the previous night awake with Charlie, that's his son. So I guess not."

"Daniel Williams, when will you learn to slow down and listen to the doctor's advice? I'm sure they would have told you that stem cell donation can leave you feeling tired, and that you needed to take it easy."

Danny's response was to fling his arm over his eyes. He wasn't up to a lecture right now.

"He needs IV fluids and plenty of rest." She informed Steve.

"No." Danny finally croaked, then screwed up his eyes as his words echoed around his head. "No hospital."

"Well lucky for you it's my day off and I came prepared. I stopped by the hospital on my way over and grabbed some supplies. I can run the fluids here, and I have a Sumatriptan Injection to try and help, as well as an anti emetic. If it's ok with you, Steve, I'll hang out here for the day."

"Of course it's ok with me, thank you so much for giving up your day off."

"Who's giving it up? I know you have a private beach, and I plan to soak up some rays while Danny rests. I have my swim stuff, and something to read while I relax."

"Sounds like the perfect plan." Steve smiled, knowing that Danny would be relieved to avoid a hospital visit. Not only did his friend hate the hospital, he also didn't want to run the risk of picking up an infection as it would prevent him from visiting Charlie.

Danny reached out for Dr. Pearce's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Thanks, Andrea." He managed before regretting it as the pain spiked, and his stomach rebelled against him, which left his scrambling for the bucket.

Laying back, spent, Danny calmed his breathing as Dr. Pearce cleaned the back of his right hand and carefully inserted the cannula. She then connected the IV fluids, and Steve moved closer and unhooked the picture above the bed. He took the bag of saline and hung it on the picture hook.

Dr Pearce then drew up some anti emetic and injected that too before she retrieved the Sumatriptan injection from her bag.

"This has to go into your stomach Danny. It works best if taken at the start of a migraine, but hopefully it should still help. It might make you feel a little flushed and drowsy, but sleep is good for you right now."

Danny gave a, thumbs up, to indicate he understood, so she pulled up his t-shirt and swabbed his stomach before using the pre filled auto inject devise. She then cleared her things away and stood.

"Come on Steve, let's let him rest. You can show me this beach of yours."

"Sure." Steve followed the doctor out of the room. A quick glance over his shoulder at his friend reassured him that he was settled and appeared comfortable.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Danny awoke and slowly opened his eyes. He blinked a few times, and was relieved to see his vision was back. He rolled his head on the pillow and breathed a sigh of relief when he realised the marching band had retreated from his head, and left behind only a dull ache. He lay there for a few minutes enjoying the relief, before he slowly started to climb to his feet. Unhooking the bag of saline from the picture hook, he walked on slightly unsteady feet to the bathroom to relieve himself. He grabbed a spare pair of Steve's shorts from the clean washing pile, knowing his friend wouldn't mind then slowly made his way downstairs.

The house was quiet, so he wound his way into the kitchen, headed for the lanai. Spotting the sunglasses on the counter that Lou had lent him, he grabbed them to protect his eyes. He knew from past experience that they were usually hypersensitive post migraine.

He smiled to himself as he saw Andrea sat in the shade of a sun parasol, enjoying the peace and calm of the ocean. Looking around there was no sign of Steve, he scoured the water for signs of his water loving friend, but he came up empty.

Stepping down onto the sand, IV bag still in hand, he made his way over to join his friend. She was wearing a pretty pink sundress, and her blonde hair was rippling in the breeze. As he got closer her perfume tickled his nose again, and this time it didn't bother his stomach.

When he reached her side he hooked the IV bag onto the parasol and sat in the empty chair beside her.

"Danny." She looked up from the medical journal she was reading in surprise. "How are you feeling now?"

"Much better, thanks. Whatever you gave me really helped."

"That's good. I'll write you a prescription so you have some in case you get another one."

"That sounds like a good idea. My ex-wife seems intent on sending me to an early grave through stress." Danny sighed.

"Steve filled me in, I hope that was ok." Dr. Pearce frowned at the pain her friend had been put through.

"Yeah, it's fine. I should probably call Rachel and see how he's doing."

"Steve called an hour ago. Charlie had a good night and his counts have started to rise. It looks like the transplant is working." Dr. Pearce happily informed him.

"Really? Oh thank god." Danny was relieved he had the sunglasses on to hide the tears that had filled his eyes.

"If he takes after his dad then he will be a fighter. He'll be just fine."

"I really hope so, Andrea."

"Let's just hope he hasn't inherited his father's stubborn streak for over doing it." She chastised.

"Sorry. I do really appreciate the help though. Can this come out now?" Danny held up his hand to indicate the cannula.

"Let that bag finish first. Then if you can keep fluids down, I'll remove it."

Danny nodded and sat back in the chair, enjoying the shade from the parasol and the cool breeze.

"So where's Steve? Did he get called into a case?"

"No, he's in the garage working on that car of his. He is another one that doesn't know the meaning of relaxing."

"Says you, whose reading medical journals on her day off."

"Ah, but I'm reading them while on the beach with a chilled fruit smoothie. That is still relaxing." Andrea smiled, and Danny knew he couldn't win that one.

"Is that one of Steve's fruit smoothies? They are really good."

"It is in deed." A voice said from behind him, "Think your stomach can manage one?"

Steve stood behind Danny holding a tray with three glasses of his famous fruit smoothie.

"I'll give it a damn good try." Danny grabbed the glass and took a small sip, the refreshing liquid coating his mouth that felt like he had eaten cardboard.

"You're feeling better then." Steve acknowledged, passing a new glass to Andrea then dropping down in the sand to join the pair under the shade of the parasol.

"Yeah, lots. Thanks for everything, Steve."

"You're welcome, Danno." Steve smiled. "And I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Danny was confused by the sudden apology.

"For not making sure you were ok, for not making you rest sooner. I was distracted by Catherine being back, wondering what it meant for us, the future. I should have kept a closer eye on you."

"I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself. Look I'm worried sick about Charlie, and work at least distracts me, but I did too much. I promise I'll make sure I get some down time too. I have Grace tonight, and I think it's time for one of our father/daughter mani pedi nights, and a good film.

"That sounds like a good idea, Danny." Andrea approved.

"Yeah, it will be good for Grace too. She is worried over Charlie, and confused over Rachel lying. I'll tell her its doctors orders."

"You do that." Andrea smiled.

Steve smiled to himself, relieved to see Danny now had some colour to his completion, and had managed to drink something without immediately bringing it back up. His best friend was going through hell right now, and he made a vow to himself to make sure Danny didn't over do things again, and hopefully prevent another terrible migraine like this one. Danny needed to be on top of his game to support his two children through the next few weeks, and when Charlie was well enough, Steve couldn't wait to meet his new nephew.

 **The End**


End file.
